2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Ram's easy to steal?

[Mundgyver]

Always nice to hear from an honest thief?? Oh I meant expert Good advise. Thank you for the info

 

[cmckinney]

rjrepo



Good info on protecting your truck. I'm brainstorming on what I can do to prevent a thief from getting in my truck.



Kill switch to the Injector pump would be nice but how would you hook this up?



An estimate on my truck was done and the damage was $1300 dollars.



I'm hoping that the umbrella insurance coverage of the the theater will cover the break in of my truck. So far it's been a bad week for me.



-CM

 

[EricBu12]

I have this from here

http://www.autolock.com/

It hooks to the brake pedal from the floor and has the round lock and is bullet proof.

I put it on the clutch so you cant start it with the clutch disabled. On autos, you put it on the brake. the guy can start it but he cant drive it away since you need to hold the brake to put it into drive.



On a fuel shutoff, I have a filter that is under the truck and there is a valve I can shut off to cut off the fuel if I need to.

 

[BigUgly]

Eric, I like the look of that thing. However, I have a question for those of you out there with autos... . Do you need to depress the brake to shift? As far as I can tell, you DO NOT have to on my 2000 with an Auto. This is depressing to say the least, although, I like some of the ideas on the thread, keep them coming.

Josiah

 

[lmills]

You don't need to depress the pedal, but you do need to turn the key to unlock the shifter.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Sorry; I don't have a template. Once you remove the inner door panel, it should be pretty obvious, I hope. The baffle bolts against the door skin using the mounting bolts for the door handle, and it is cut to clear the mechanisms as needed. It has a part that goes past the lock rod. I don't recall the details after so many years.

 

[ddutil]

Track the ***kers

Let the ***kers steal your truck, then track 'em:



with a boomerang



Dan

 

[ddutil]

I like my boomerang verrrry much...

Me again



From their web site:



2/17/2003



A Thornhill area resident was unpleasantly surprised to find her 2000 Lexus LX 470 had disappeared from her driveway yesterday morning. Luckily, the luxury vehicle valued at over $80,000 was equipped with a Boomerang® tracking device, Canada’s premier stolen vehicle recovery solution.



The owner immediately contacted Boomerang Tracking to report the theft and within less than an hour, Boomerang Tracking’s in-house tracking team had tracked the stolen Lexus to the parking lot of a Mississauga hotel. The recovery revealed not only the stolen Lexus, but also four additional stolen vehicles, including a BMW 328, Toyota Sequoia, Acura MDX and Dodge RAM. The five vehicles are estimated to be worth almost $300,000. In addition to this impressive vehicle recovery, the operation also led the Peel Police Auto Theft Unit to the arrest of three individuals on the scene.



Oo.

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Originally posted by K_Arts

Here's some food for thought.

The only way and I repeat... THE ONLY WAY to prevent these trucks from starting is to shut off the fuel supply!!!! Kev

Kev, I'm willing to stand corrected here, but if you install a Thatcham Class 1 alarm with integral vehicle immobilizer, then your baby ain't going anywhere fast - even with third party jumper cable support.....



Over here in Europe, my insurance company practically insisted on this as a mandatory pre-requsite for full coverage insurance. I also have a stealth install of GPS SatNav tracking with a GSM cellular SMS alert facility by NavTrak, so even if my truck was moved/lifted/towed without my consent (anywhere in Europe), for example onto a low-loader, the European tracking center would be independently notified (plus my cellphone) and the lowlifes involved can be tracked down to a 100 meter square grid, stationery or mobile. I'd be very surprised if something similar is not available in the lower 48. (edit: Check out North American equivalents Boomerang and Lowjack )



BTW, the system panic/alarm feature was further enhanced as a day project, so if ever enabled, it now kicks in with my twin Grovers on the outside in parallel, plus a recycled PADI diver's air whistle, stealth install on the inside of the cab. This little sucker is about half the size of a cigarette packet and is normally connected to a high pressure airline found on a scubadiver's 1st stage air assembly. When this trips, the sustained sound pressure level for 20 seconds at 1 meter (basically anywhere inside the truck) is a 150dB very high pitched whistle which is unbearable, even to low life thieving scumbags



I drew the line at the latest in DIY South African anti-carjacking whereby side mounted flame throwers get the perimeter nice and toasty!!!

 

[Shovelhead]

Those systems sound like our Lo-Jack.



www.lojack.com

 

[Pit Bull]

JMc, I would not want to mess with your ride Is this a real problem in Europe?? I would think your truck would be so unusual that it would not be a target Kind of like stealing a Mercedes G wagon in the USA. Most of the vehicles stolen over in the USA are high volume like Toyota's, etc. because the parts are easy to sell. But I guess there are crooks that go out and look for special vehicles. If your truck is ever stolen and then recovered without catching the crook, you can add deaf to his description :-laf

 

[dresslered]

(basically anywhere inside the truck) is a 150dB very high pitched whistle which is unbearable

Pretty neat set-up, John, but I sure hope that it is failsafe. We, in the states, use to have a device on the market that used piezo technology to produced about the same levels of pain, but then it was outlawed since it might harm the "would-be" theif.

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Exotic....

Originally posted by Pit Bull

JMc, I would not want to mess with your ride Is this a real problem in Europe??I would think your truck would be so unusual that it would not be a target I guess there are crooks that go out and look for special vehicles.

Whilst you're absolutely right about being RAMS being somewhat rare in Europe, it is considered "exotic" and is right up there with the best of them - the "plus" is that it's size, weight and conspicuous presence ought to deter even the most determined scumbag. I am a firm believer in prevention rather than cure, and all any half-decent alarm system will do is try to convince the would be scumbag to move on to something easier. Keeping them on the outside is one thing, preventing them from being inside long enough to do anything is another and broadcasting the event will definitely get their attention.



Echoing what the Repo man said earlier in this thread, I forgot to mention that within a Thatcham Class 1 spec system, both Europe and Stateside, vehicle immobilizer and fuel cut-off are standard features.



The two suggestions of a flashing red idiot LED connected to a PP3 battery coupled with disconnecting the visible, internal door open/closed indicators is a smart move and gets my vote as an interim precaution... .



David (dresslered) Your point is well made, but I am not going to lose any sleep over scumbags with bleeding eardrums and a chronic case of acute tinitus. I define this is as reasonable preventative force, seeing as they outlawed private ownership of handguns a couple of years back in the UK.



JMc

 

[Pit Bull]

John, what do you do for a living? Are you that guy they call "M" in the James Bond films?

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Pit Bull - I work in the Cellular Communications industry, designing stuff for 2. 5G and 3G GSM cellular networks ( as per details already supplied in the profile below left). I have a classic engineer's mentality and approach - so this stuff is sort of second nature

When I was out in Malayia scubadiving off Sipadan island near Borneo a few years ago, I came up from a drift dive and I was almost half a nautical mild downstream of the dive boat, which with a moderate swell sort of makes you invisible pretty much most of the time in the troughs. Holding this air horn at arms length, pointing away from me towards the diveboat got their attention after 3 blasts, but I could only bare the SPL in bursts of 5 seconds - it's basically a miniature marine foghorn

 

[24VChev]

theft

This may sound simple but this worked to save my buddies truck, just put the transfercase into neutral, it will stop the stupid theives. Also If I unplug my comp box the truck sure is a dog to drive, sort of another joy ride preventative measure. I also hooked up a switch that kills the key signal to the ECM to prevent the engine from starting.

 

[dresslered]

meant to say failsafe for yourself

John, I definitely wouldn't loose sleep over the bleeding eardrums of the deserving! I figure that if someone enters private property, it is his own responsibility as to what he might find.



I had considered the piezo thing myself for the older alarm technology that I have in my car (an UNGO Box). Quite by accident I found a undesirable feature though. If the battery voltage fell too low (i. e. alternator contacts wore out or when the vehicle sat for an extended period), the alarm would go off thinking someone was tampering with the battery. With this in mind, I gave up on my quest for the eardrum treatment thinking that I might accidentally become the victim. Argh!



As you had also mentioned, I didn't persue the flame thrower technology or the pepper spray squirters either.

 

[b.ferrara]

BEST DETERANT

OK, there are 20 ways to try and stop the guy from getting your truck. But as said before if the guy wants it bad enough he'll get

it. Being from NY I've seen just about every deterant possible

and also seen almost every way of getting them, the guy will tow

it with the alarm going off if he needs to. My personal favorite:

can't believe nobody mentioned this one, don't worry about fuel

shut offs, alarms, etc... Go to the store and buy 2 nice Tupperware containers 1 for water, 1 for food. See who's got the

balls to approach a truck with a 100lb monster in the back.



4x8 bed, a bowl of water, a bowl of food he's happy.



and if you want to put some time into it, train the guy not to make a peep until the thief is trying to get in, imagine when he's

trying to get in the door and over his right shoulder he can hear

your pal breathing.



Bill

 

[bighammer]

My rottweiller seems to enjoy hiding and waiting until some poor soul happens to pass within 6 feet of the truck. (it seems like a game to her and it's fun to watch) Then she lunges out the window, barking (slobering) and looking as viscious as possible.



I've stopped taking her with me as much, because I worry about inducing the massive corronary attack in somebody who just happened to park close. Of course I'm having to take the key with me now, though.

 

[K_Arts]

JohnMcIntyre - That sounds like a pretty sweet system that you have. To bad the American Population doesn't use a system like that.



So what happens if a car theif goes in and disables it? Does it automatically respond via backup battey? I'd like some more information on that unit...



I can say that as far as car alarms go, a good theif can disable them within seconds... as long as you know basic electronics.



Kev